The focus of police SHOULD be to eliminate the causes and origin of crime at its source.
HOWEVER
Police action is increasingly driven by their "stats targets".
Several seasoned policemen have told me how concerned we should at the growing focus on arrest statistics.
Police now tolerate crime hot-spots such as drug dealers ( drug abuse is a prime driver of criminal activity ) It is easier for a policeman to let the dealer quietly operate - and to arrest the users/addicts. Police have therefore become part of the problem - one can only imagine the opportunity for corruption in this scenario.
Law-abiding citizens fear the police who harass them and act with impunity, pulling woman over at night without cause and then looking for any reason for their actions.
Example : Mossel Bay has an increasingly aggressive police presence who harass residents, to their great inconvenience and annoyance, on a daily basis.
Police need to Stop hassling law abiding folk and get back to their job of tackling the criminals.